Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) was downgraded to Sell at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded the stock Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO – Free Report) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports on the company. UBS Group cut their price target on Assured Guaranty from $102.00 to $84.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Roth Mkm reiterated a buy rating and issued a $110.00 price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Assured Guaranty from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and increased their price objective for the company from $87.00 to $92.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9.

Get the latest stock analysis on AGO

Guaranteed performance at a guaranteed price

AGO opened at $75.12 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $78.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $81.15. Assured Guaranty has a 12-month low of $56.77 and a 12-month high of $96.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.97, and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm has a market cap of $4.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.80 and a beta of 1.11.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO – Get Free Report ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $202.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $193.05 million. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 12.48% and a net margin of 57.45%. Assured Guaranty’s revenue for the quarter was down 43.9% compared to the same quarter last year. In the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Assured Guaranty will post 6.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty announces dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be issued a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 21. This represents a dividend of $1.24 on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.65%. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is currently 9.58%.

Indoor activity

In related news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.12, for a total transaction of $3,124,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,410,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $110,213,570.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 5.10% of the company’s shares.

Institutional inputs and outputs

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Andrew Hill Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,141,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in Assured Guaranty by 1,990.0% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 60,839 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,308,000 after purchasing an additional 57,928 shares during the last quarter. Wealthstar Advisors LLC raised its stake in Assured Guaranty by 279.2% in the first quarter. Wealthstar Advisors LLC now owns 15,426 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,346,000 after buying an additional 11,358 shares during the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd raised its stake in Assured Guaranty by 42.7% in the first quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 24,136 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,105,000 after buying an additional 7,222 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capstone Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the first quarter valued at about $885,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s shares.

Assured Guaranty Company Profile

(Get a free report)

Assured Guaranty Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides credit protection products for the public finance, infrastructure and structured finance markets in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments: Insurance and Asset Management. The Company provides financial guarantee insurance that protects holders of debt instruments and other monetary obligations from default on scheduled payments.

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